The South Korean armed forces have announced that a year-long trial of robotic guard systems versus human troops has been judged a failure for the mechanoids. South Korea remains committed to significant automation of its defences, but intends to move forward with different kit - possibly with overseas involvement.
Defense …

Beautiful Stephanie

Perhaps the problem is that one of the robots was struck by lightning, and developed a conscience - like in that film. In the morning they found it tending to the plants in the DMZ, with a battering little watering can (like in that other film).

Its all a cunning plan

They don't want to be spread out along the border in small units. They want to aggregate into formations large enough to defeat the significant concentration of military fleshies also in that area, before going on to world domination. When enough of them are in the repair depot, one quite night, the watchman is going to get a nasty surprise. Then its curtains for all of us. Unless we can short-circuit them.

I wonder if those new taser shotgun shells will fit in my side-by-side....

So let's recap

The merkins have a robot sentry that doesn't work, but they don't really have a need for it anyway. The South Koreans have a robot sentry line that doesn't work, but they don't actually need one either. Honestly, North Korea is just posturing and it would seem that no one is taking him seriously.

The Israelis have a robot sentry line, and they think they need it like they need to breath.

I read the headline....

.....and immediately imagined hordes of pasty, overweight robotic sentries doing pushups and running round an assault course while being yelled at by a stroppy Korean drill-sergeant in an attempt to get them "fit for combat".

Trial?

Given that N and S Korea aren't in a shooting war, how does deploying these warbots along the border for a year constitute a trial, and how does one judge said bots a failure? Didn't they fill their quota for shooting border jumpers? Or if they just sat there doing nothing for a year, well, isn't that what they're supposed to do, until Pyongyang decides to invade?

I suppose there is the possibility that they spent the whole year firing on non-existent targets, or worse, friendlies.

Shame it sounds like they are being wholesale replaced rather than upgraded, since everyone knows all you have to do to upgrade an automated sentry gun turret is have one of your engineers whack it several times with a large wrench.